


The chariot of victory

by cincave



Series: Character Studies [5]
Category: Gaya Sa Pelikula (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28558665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cincave/pseuds/cincave
Summary: A character study: Paolo Pangilinan (part 3)
Series: Character Studies [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094300
Kudos: 6





	The chariot of victory

You are tired.

It has honestly been an exhausting year, full of joys and heartbreak, thankfully more of the former.

It is a wonderful night because your greatest joy of the year is in the driver’s seat.

You cannot help but feel like history’s greatest archeologist, uncovering the find of the century. More beautiful than Van Gogh’s portraits, more precious than all the gold of El Dorado.

And he is beside you, your friend. Your partner.

The abortive attempts at your promised Kumu live is your background noise. It reminds you of your shitty internet connection of that first audition for your series.

Him snickering in the background at your struggle doesn’t help.

 _Wag mo kong pagtawanan_ , you reprimand which just makes him snicker louder. You want to be annoyed but you adore his face too much to ever be truly annoyed.

You don’t know why but he is happy. He has been smiling ever since you got into the car with him. This silly, foolish smile that should look idiotic on anyone else but only makes him look even more endearing. It is contagious.

He always becomes more playful around you, a side of him that you are proud for bringing out. When you first sang that Lilo & Stitch song, it somehow set the tone for your relationship:

This white space where you can be as silly and whimsical as you want, where sorrows are halved and laughter is truly multiplied.

He makes you so goddamn happy.

When he showed up at your house, keys in hand, after that desperate SOS of a tweet that you deleted immediately, you thought that your heart would burst with joy.

And here he is, in this car with you as you both speed towards Tagaytay. He sneaks a look at you. Then another. And, on the third one, he smiles and sticks his tongue out.

You would slay dragons for him.

You would grip a sword tight and charge into an inferno of dragonfire for him.

His belief in you always makes you feel so much bigger as if your body is expanding to accommodate the depths of his faith.

You’ve always been brave but this is the first time that your courage has been lit up by the lantern of his faith.

The car rolls to a stop at an intersection on the road. The bright red of the stoplight is splashed all across your hand.

Your palm is the same hue when he takes it in his own hand.

The world stills as if that stoplight was for time itself instead of the road.

He closes his eyes and presses your hand against his cheek.

 _Paopao_ , he says softly and presses a tender kiss on your hand.

You always knew that this day would come, that the question would be asked because your heart's bravery would outstrip your mind's warning.

You've spun so many scenarios as to how this would go.

You thought that you would confess over alcohol. You thought that you would confess by an accidental-intentional character break and you would kiss him for real. You thought you would confess while he is sleeping.

You thought you would confess in those quiet moments when it's just you two and there are no lies, just omitted truths.

Never did you even consider that he would confess first.

But then again, that is who he is in your life: the person who always surprises you with love.

Isn't it marvelous?

In this very moment when the heat of his lips on your hand is still stinging hot, he is suddenly so much braver than you.

You cannot help the ecstatic laughter that escapes you.

You have always been so wary of crossing that line in the sand. You’ve set that boundary for yourself because to cross it, that way led to madness.

You never even thought that he was the one who was going to sweep it away and cross it himself.

The car behind you honks their horn angrily. Contrary to your perception, time did not stop. The light is green and he hurriedly pushes the car forward again.

Your cheeks hurt from smiling too much. You steal glances of him stealing glances of you stealing glances of him.

You’ve asked the question, what if, so many times and now, here he is, smiling at you and saying, come and find out.

Suddenly, this space, this wide chasm between the two is no longer bearable. You look at the road ahead, so infinite and bright now.

He keeps squeezing your hand that he never let go, a Morse code of affection and adoration. You squeeze back, relaying that all of it is returned tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

The car is once again rolling to a stop towards another intersection and you finally let yourself look for a long time at his handsome face.

You’ve always asked the question: _What if it’s the two of us?_

And now, you realize as he kisses you under the red-yellow-green light, that the answer to that question is:

_It was always going to be two of us._


End file.
